Sweetest Downfall
by StartedOutWithAKiss
Summary: That was when Caroline should have pushed him away and told him they had to just stay friends because honestly if he ever broke her heart, she'd die, not physically, but emotionally.


**Title: **Sweetest Downfall

**Author: **StartedOutWithAKiss (Mia )

**Synopsis: **That was when Caroline should have pushed him away and told him they had to just stay friends because honestly if he ever broke her heart, she'd die, not physically, but emotionally.

**Author's Note: **Hello! I'm a massive Caroline fan, so most of stories will probably centre on her! I ship her with everyone and anyone xD but my favourite is Caroline/Stefan and Caroline/Damon. Also, most of my stories tend to be angsty and/or unhappy, I just can't seem to right happy! Hahaha well enjoy anyway (:

She should've known better, I mean honestly, to think she'd be his first choice was just stupid on her part. She promised herself she would never again be one of those pathetic girls who gave her everything to the wrong boy only to be left with a broken heart. She'd learnt her lesson from Damon and to a certain extent from Matt as well. Even when she was with Tyler there was always a part of herself and her heart she kept hidden. But when it came to Stefan Salvatore she had foolishly let all her walls down, gave herself to him fully and been left with a hole in her heart no-one could fill. She could only blame herself in the end, she was the one who let him take her heart so in hindsight she'd let him break it into a million tiny pieces.

It had all started out with a kiss. Not between herself and Stefan but between the supposed love of his life and his brother. A kiss Stefan had witnessed and a kiss Caroline wished had never happened, as it was that kiss that began the chain of events which ended with the blonde vampire broken beyond repair. Damn stupid Elena and her newly heightened vampire emotions and damn Damon for taking advantage of them.

"I'm sorry Stefan…I just need some time" Elena had declared after her boyfriend had walked in on a very heavy make out session between herself and his brother.

"Time? Time for what?" he angrily snapped. Obviously he knew about the love his brother felt for her, but what he wasn't prepared for was Elena returning that love, or at least, the lust.

"I don't know what I want anymore, I need time to figure it out" she ran a hand through her locks of hair and sighed, acting the victim as always.

"Take all the time you need" he replied defeated, as he walked away. She was his entire life, his reason for being and now she was telling him she didn't know who or what she wanted?

That was the night he appeared at her a door with a defeated smile and a broken heart. Throughout their entire friendship she had been the one always leaning on him, asking him questions, crying onto his shoulder, so now it was her turn to be a good friend and she gladly accepted that role. Looking back Caroline realised that was her biggest mistake, she should have turned him away and urged him to fight for Elena, lit a fire under him and reassured him that they were meant to be and that she was just going through the difficulties of adjusting to her vampire life. But she didn't. She welcomed him in with open arms and helped to fix him.

At first she did the typical break up routine; she gathered all the soppy, girly romantic DVD's she could, find filled her bed with mountains of junk food and blood (animal) and for afters she had 5 bottles of wine stashed in her wardrobe. This was the only thing she knew how to do and she knew Stefan wasn't ready to talk yet. So for the first few nights that's all they did – they watched the notebook, when harry met sally, a walk to remember and tons of other films, she forced him to eat the chocolate and potato chips as well as the blood and on the third night she broke out the alcohol and they got drunk together.

She'd never seen Stefan like this, he was always the strong one and Caroline kinda liked looking after him, more so the fact he was letting _her _look after him.

"You know what it was like at the very start, all those new thoughts and feelings rushing around in your head. She's just conflicted at the moment, she'll make the right decision in the end" she comforted him, even though she knew, they both knew, there was just as good of a chance of Elena choosing Damon as there was her choosing Stefan. In response to this Stefan simply took her hand and squeezed it. You're welcome, she thought inwardly.

Stefan and Caroline were pretty much inseparable for the next few months. Caroline really never seen this coming, she had expected Stefan to hide away in his room and let Elena make her decision and accept her decision whenever she _finally _realised who she wanted. She had never expected Stefan would need someone (her) to lean on, to talk to, and to just sit with and she let herself get more attached than she let on. She liked being the one who was helping him, knowing that whenever he went to sleep at night a little less heartbroken than the day before that was because of her.

For Elena, 'needing time' apparently meant sexing it up with Damon. Every time she seen her (best?) friend, the rebellious brother was always attached to her body in one way or another; hands, lips, hips. She seen a little more of Katherine inside Elena every single day. She never told Stefan this, not at first anyway, she was making so much progress with him, he was actually laughing again and she didn't want to ruin this by telling him Elena had chosen Damon. That had been Caroline's fatal mistake; she'd assumed that because Elena was with Damon constantly, that she'd made her choice and he was it and that was why she unintentionally let herself fall for Stefan.

"There's plenty more fish in the sea Stefan" she said chirpily after the sixth or seventh month, high on the realisation that through all her comforting, reassuring and holding him throughout the night, she'd let him take hold of her heart. "I mean just because you don't have Elena, doesn't mean you can't be happy with someone else, there are a lot of great girls out there who would accept you for what you are" she finished with a smile.

"What like you Caroline?" he asked with a cheeky grin on his face, he was obviously joking and Caroline was greatly thankful that she couldn't physically blush or else her face would be on fire.

She threw a pillow at him and giggled, "You wish Salvatore" she was living a dream, Stefan would always love Elena, there would never be anyone else in his heart apart from her and Caroline would have to learn to live with that. God she was the biggest cliché in the book - in love with her best friend who was hopelessly in love with someone else.

It was a year when he finally accepted that the girl of his dreams had made her decision and it wasn't him and he was…okay with it. It was only after watching his blonde best friend whilst she argued with Bonnie over who the best character on 'Gossip Girl' was that he realised the reason he didn't feel like his chest was about to implode with sadness was because of her. She'd gone out of her way to fix him, to repair with Elena had broken and for that he would be forever grateful, who would have thought Caroline would be his saviour? His heart swelled with appreciation and love – which kind he wasn't exactly sure.

Caroline was his best friend and he loved her like a sister but there was this other part of him that felt something more, something deeper. He would always be in love with Elena, he knew that, however Caroline had moved into his heart in a way he couldn't describe, but he wasn't ready to do anything, he couldn't risk hurting her whenever he knew Elena still held his heart.

It was sixteen months whenever he made his move. Caroline had begged him to go clubbing with her, he needed to start living his life again, and god knows Elena had. The place was filled with young, drunk and sweaty people and whilst this wasn't his ideal night out, the smile on Caroline's face stopped him from complaining or worse, leaving. It reminded him of going to high school dances because it made Elena happy. His night was going good, well as good as it could've, whenever he seen something that made his blood boil; Caroline was dancing (rather provocatively) with another guy and all he wanted to do in that moment was rip the guy from limb to limb. As if sensing his anger, Bonnie placed a soothing hand on his arm and raised her eyebrows almost in warning.

"Just tell her then" she mouthed over the music and before he could ask her anything she was gone, lost in the crowd, doing some dancing of her own.

He told he loved her that night whenever they got home, well whenever Stefan walked Caroline home. "I know this is out of the blue and I know I should still be heartbroken over Elena and Damon, but the truth is I'm not. Well I am, but not as much as I used to be, and that's because of you. You were my light in the midst of all the darkness, you helped me whenever you didn't have to and for the past year you've been by my side when I've needed you. I've fallen for you, totally and completely" he looked down shyly, putting his hands in his pockets in a shy innocent way that made her heart melt.

She shook her head, the tears that had welled in her eyes falling, "I've fallen for you too Stefan, but..." his smile vanished and he looked at her waiting on an answer. "I can't risk being with you knowing that one day Elena could show up out of the blue and say she wants to be with you, because we both know what your answer would be. I love you Stefan, more than I've ever loved anybody and it's killing me having to do this." She sniffed as more tears cascaded down her cheeks.

Stefan furrowed his brow and stepped forward, cupping her cheek with his hand and wiping away her tears with his thumb. "Just trust me" he whispered before capturing her lips with his. That was when Caroline should have pushed him away and told him they had to just stay friends because honestly if he ever broke her heart, she'd die, not physically, but emotionally. But she didn't, she kissed him and then kissed him some more; another mistake on her part.

For the next six months they lived their life as any couple, Caroline had never been happier and Stefan's heart was all but fixed, until a blast from their past came knocking on the door.

"I'm so sorry, I don't know what I was thinking, I don't want him, I want you" after 2 years of travelling around the world with Damon by her side, it seemed Elena had had some sort of epiphany that had her running back to Mystic falls and to Stefan's doorstep, her face a tearful mess. Shock was the only emotion running through Stefan's entire being at that time. Was this actually happening? He hesitantly let his (ex?)-love into the boarding house so they could talk, so he could explain that he was with Caroline now, he loved her and Elena had made her choice now she had to live with it.

Well that's what he should've done.

Caroline felt her presence before she seen her and she desperately wanted to believe it was her vampire senses messing up or that even Katherine was back in town, anything would have been better than the scene she came across.

"Happy 6 month anniversary" she chimed, bursting into the Salvatore mansion with his present wrapped up in her hands, it was something silly and childish, but it was a private joke between the two of them and she couldn't wait to see his face and see him laugh whenever he opened it. She made her way to the living area and her eyes were immediately clouded with tears and as she watched her boyfriend locking lips with a girl she used to call her best friend. Her heart collapsed into a million tiny pieces as she fought the urge to drive a stake through both of their hearts, too lost in each other's mouth they hadn't even noticed her yet, they were pretty crappy vampires. It was only when the pink box in her hands fell to the floor that Stefan realised Caroline was there.

"Don't" she snarled as she watched her boyfriend try to speak, probably to make up excuses, maybe an apology? "Burn in hell" she spat, lifting the gift off the ground and throwing it at him with violent force, with one last glance in Elena's direction who looked pretty confused throughout the whole scene, Caroline was gone.

She collapsed into floods of tears as she fell onto her bed, how could she have been so stupid? She knew it would end up like this, god forbid she ever be happy. How could Stefan do this to her? He was the one who pursued a relationship with her, hadn't he been the one asking her to trust him outside her doorstep all those months ago? From Damon she would've expected something like this, but Stefan, he was meant to be the good one. He wasn't meant to hurt her, he wasn't meant to make her feel like she couldn't breathe without crying. This was all her own fault though, she knew that. She should have never fallen in love with a guy who was already unavailable, they'd been living a lie this entire time and a part of Caroline had always been waiting for this to happen.

It was hours later whenever she was packing her stuff up having cried all she could possibly cry in the space of 3 hours, that Stefan decided to show his face. "As far as I'm concerned this friendship, this relationship is over" she said coldly, before he had a chance to open his mouth. "If I never see you again, that's perfectly fine"

He made a move to touch her but she quickly moved across the room. "I don't know what to say" He said desperately, Stefan was sincerely confused; he tried to fight against Elena when she made to kiss him but he simply couldn't. Obviously he wasn't as over her as he thought and Caroline…he loved her, but was that enough to overcome his feelings for Elena? "I love you both, I just-"

"What? Need some time?" she snapped, letting a sarcastic laugh roll off her tongue, as she repeated the same words Elena had uttered to him years ago. She figured it was easier to be cold and emotionless with him right now rather than completely breaking down. "I was there for you Stefan, when no one else was, I was there. I picked up the pieces of you she broke and I put you back together. If I had've known this was my thank you, I would have never bothered." She laughed bitterly again, zipping up her bags.

"I wish you and Elena live a happy life together, cause I sure as hell won't be around to see it. And whenever she screws you over again, I just hope there isn't someone around as stupid as me there to help you" she sighed and turned to face him.

"Caroline you can't be leaving, please don't leave because of me, I need-"

"Do not flatter yourself Stefan, I've wanted to leave Mystic Falls for a while now, but I thought I had something to stay for, guess not" she could feel her façade slipping, her face cracking, her eyes welling. No, he did not get to see her like this; he would never get to see the damage he had done to her. Before Stefan could fight for her and convince her to stay, she was gone, out the door and in her car. She'd left her mom and Bonnie goodbye letters sitting on her dresser, she hoped they understood.

"Come on Barbie, let's get out of here" came the voice of Damon Salvatore, slumped in the passenger seat of her car, an almost empty bottle of Bourbon attached to his hand. She didn't have the energy in her to fight, tell him to get lost and go travelling on her own. She guessed the only person in the world who understood exactly what she was feeling was sitting right next to her and it wouldn't be that bad having him tag along. She turned to look at Damon, once the toughest person she ever knew now reduced to a heartbroken shell of a man.

"Good Riddance" she whispered as she sped out of Mystic Falls, never to return in anyone's lifetime.

Caroline and Damon spent the rest of their eternity together, they travelled from city to city, continent to continent and so on. What started out as comfort soon turned into genuine companionship and neither could imagine living without the other. They didn't fall in love but that didn't stop them falling into bed together over and over again. Caroline never had expectations that Damon had to live up to and Damon didn't ask of Caroline anything she wasn't ready to give. They weren't a couple, but they weren't not a couple and they were always there for the other in times of need; when they heard Stefan and Elena had gotten married, whenever Caroline's mother died and so on.

Caroline may not have been Stefan's first choice, or even Damons, but he chose to stay with her for the rest of their lives and that was pretty okay for her.

**THE END-**


End file.
